Haigatake
"Monkey Boy" Haigatake (猿彦の灰画峰, Saruhiko no Haigatake) is a who, while originating from , was displaced as a child due to the sudden onslaught of independent officers on the 's external training grounds. While managing to escape the onslaught, Haigatake was on the verge of death until saved by a Monkey named Gokū. After saving him from his pursuers, Haigatake was granted the man's power and given safe passage to Mikazan; the Mountain of the Monkeys. After years of living and training with the Monkeys, Haigatake's return to the society of humans lead him to eventually encounter Dǎiyì, who eventually went to referring him as a Dragon Dancing in the Treetops (梢の中に舞竜, Kozue no Naka ni Mairyū), a title which, while Haigatake doesn't particularly understand, refers to himself as to mock his newfound friend. In addition, through being granted the power of Gokū, Haigatake has been situated as one of the Eight Hermits, despite being unknown to the fact. Background Haigatake was born in the village of , within one of its more prominent clans: the . His heritage would leave him to be classified as the heir to the clan and, accordingly, he was cultivated in the same way as one. There was little regard for Haigatake's feelings during the matter, thus leading him to bottle up his feelings for the majority of his early life. Even with the birth of his younger sister and a newfound companion, Haigatake couldn't bring himself to burden the young girl with the weight of his sorrow. As such, Haigatake endured it all for the sake of those heartless elders to gain the power needed to shut their mouths. In a surprising turn of events, Haigatake would gain happiness after a period of true fear. During one of his training lessons in the , Haigatake and his class were on the outskirts of Konohagakure on a training field. However, this period of time was rather fickle for citizens of Konohagakure and , for there were several in Kirigakure who opposed the alliance brought between the Sixth Mizukage and Seventh Hokage due to the village being the origin of the prejudiced . As such, a small terrorist faction was formed within the village and, in hopes of orchestrating a war between the two Hidden Villages, they attacked the small group of students and their teachers. Within the initial assault, Haigatake and other students managed to run away from the assault due to the intervention of their teachers. However, their escape would not last for very long. Haigatake's small group was cornered by a number of the assailants, with the sole exception of Haigatake, who managed to escape through concealing himself within ashes. But there was no more running for Haigatake now. His miraculous escape attempts were null and void: his chakra exhausted, his body taken to its physical limits and his knees buckled onto the floor. But even within this state, there was one thing that consumed Haigatake's being. Pure anger, anger at his powerlessness, anger at his inability to conquer over his fate. No matter how much anger built up within him, however, it would not compensate for his powerlessness. And yet, at the very edges of his life, a monkey would end up being his savior. With a tail sharper than steel, the primate cut through the terrorists' weapons and sent them flying backwards into surrounding trees, rendering them unconscious from the force. It was within this moment that Haigatake's life was about to change. Within the next instant, the monkey had grabbed his arm and sprang away from the immediate area in an attempt to prolong their survival. Unfortunately, they were not able to escape the seasoned Shinobi of Kirigakure for very long. Cornered from all sides, Haigatake and Gokū were forced to fight for their lives. Here, for the very first time, Haigatake's innate potential seemed to awaken. Without any indication, Haigatake seemingly stood still and allowed the Kirigakure Shinobi to approach him. But not for long... Personality Appearance Haigatake, despite growing up with monkeys, looks surprisingly civil. Although that impression soon leaves the mind as they come closer to witness his true self. Despite being legally an adult, Haigatake's facial expressions and general visage are that of a child. Among all his features, his eyes stand out above them all. They have black sclerae and a white irises, with no visible pupil that often causes Dǎiyì to poke fun at their appearance, with him remarking that "they need medical attention!" Moreover, his facial structure is rather soft, with the angle of his jawline being a lot less pronounced than most Shinobi of his physique, thus leading others to call him childish. Despite his facial features and attitudes indicating otherwise, Haigatake's physique is nothing to scoff at — nor are his abilities. Haigatake's physique is remarkably lean but packed with muscular definition and core strength as a result of his continuous training. Moreover, while rarely exposed, Haigatake's legs are more-than-likely to have an even greater level of physical definition as a result of their near-cataclysmic strength. Haigatake's attire appears to be quite simple and very traditional when compared to conventional Shinobi garb. He wears an autumnal patterned colored in different shades of reddish-brown, with a single bell sleeve on his right arm and two, detachable, compression arm sleeves of a similar color. The kosode itself seems to be quite open, thus exposing the majority of Haigatake's torso. Across his clavicle also appears to be a rope-belt of sorts, patterned in red, white and black, which is also present across his waist over a light maroon obi sash. For his lower half, Haigatake wears a pair of dark brown, loose hakama and generally travels barefoot, finding and other footwear irritating to wear. Relationships Mikazan Monkeys Egaku Gokū Others Dǎiyì Nagame Sarutobi Kurumi Yuri Synopsis Tales of the Monkey *'Monkey Business' *'A Monkey in the Trees' Abilities Haigatake is a man who possesses an inordinate level of power for someone of his stature and demeanor. After all, it is not strength he has cultivated willingly, but rather, unconsciously. The product of pure fury that has been suppressed, tempered and refined over years by a carefree spirit... Physical Prowess Haigatake, as the self-entitled "God of Taijutsu" (体術の神, Taijutsu no Kami) that roams the lands, is an incredibly powerful and gifted practitioner of the . His skills have been honed ever since his childhood, leading his physical prowess in all aspects to be improved so dramatically that his raw destructive potential has been considered to be the equivalent of most practitioners of the ; that is, with his enhancement driving his physical prowess to its upper limits. In fact, rumors have spread across several factions about Haigatake's Taijutsu being sufficient enough to effortlessly dominate over entire platoons of seasoned . Haigatake's physical prowess is by no means less-than-incredible. A significant trait of his lies in the sheer strength of his body. Despite his less-than-imposing frame, Haigatake packs incredibly refined and tempered power, almost as if his own body were a blade. The majority of his destructive force is present in his kicks, each of which individually is capable of breaking ordinary bones if proper contact is able to be made. For this reason, Haigatake normally restricts his movements to that of arm movements, only leaving kicks for those who are capable of withstanding the full force of his might. Even so, the power he expresses in his palm strikes, jabs and chops are enough to cause significant injury to any normal person. In fact, he can quite casually concentrate his strength to a single point and magnify it to the point where he can snap steel blades with little effort. When applying his considerable ability in , Haigatake can increase the scale of his attacks to the point where a palm thrust of high momentum can cause even large waves of water to be blown back by the force. However, given Haigatake's naturally docile demeanor, even while fighting, he is more often seen employing to destroy an opponent from the inside with softer strikes. While incapable of attacking chakra points, he is nonetheless able to swiftly disable an opponent through weakening their and , while exerting no considerable strength to do so. As one would expect from a man of his physical power, Haigatake's durability and endurance is nothing to scoff at either. It takes a significant amount of effort to penetrate through his defense, with weak sword strikes doing no more than bouncing off of him. This is made evident through his combat form, closing the distance even when strong projectiles are being fired at him: a clear indication of his resilience and resolve within combat. Moreover, even when littered with wounds, Haigatake manages to drastically reduce the impact this has on his physical health through sheer muscle control. For wounds created by projectile type weapons or large slashes, this is Haigatake's immediate response in extending his battle time. Through contracting his muscles to the optimum level at a given moment, Haigatake can induce artificial clotting that prevents free-flow bleeding; albeit this is in exchange for a slight sacrifice in power. However, even further than his ability to resist attacks is his unnatural tenacity within battle. Without fail, Haigatake can continue to send waves after waves of attacks towards an enemy even if he is on the brink of defeat himself, often turning an outcome of a large battle to his favor simply through his unnatural ability to persevere through all odds. Haigatake, as a taught by Monkeys, has taken in their teachings and developed for himself an incredibly monstrous amount of skill in high-speed movement, to the point where he finds the use of the redundant and refuses to employ such a technique. Haigatake, as his lithe frame and heightened leg strength would indicate, possesses monstrous speed within the heat of battle. The instant in which he begins to move, his speed is already made clear to the opponent. His motions cause his body to seemingly shimmer out of existence, reappearing in the next area with only incorporeal afterimages left in his wake. However, even though his raw speed is incredible, what truly takes people by surprise is the nature of the movement that is incorporated into Haigatake's combat, making him next-to-impossible to catch with even high-speed projectile attacks. Haigatake often moves while incorporating the idea of an opponent's attack. Specifically, Haigatake never initiates any form of movement against stronger opponents despite appearing to do so. He specifically creates feints in every step with his incredible body control, only employing half-steps at the last moment in order to avoid any incoming assault before pushing on the balls of his feet to gain a large amount of distance in a short period of time. Moreover, through changing the cadence of his high-speed movement rapidly, Haigatake can temporarily render himself completely invisible to the naked eye; he takes advantage of this against still opponents by forcing them to readjust their sight whence he reappears, using that moment of confusion in order to dash forward and cleanly finish the battle. In addition to his incredible velocity, Haigatake possesses masterful control over the movements of his body. He is capable of employing highly dexterous movements without compromising the balance of his body. In fact, even skilled martial artists find it difficult to determine an opening expressed by Haigatake, whether he be in a compromising stance or not. After all, by adjusting his overall body, his center of gravity shifts in accordance to the body's newly found axes. In doing so, Haigatake can virtually utilize any physical techniques from both an aerial and grounded standpoint, making difficult terrains nothing more than a slight hindrance when compared to the man's overwhelming skills. However, by far, Haigatake's preferred terrain is in the forest, where he can truly express the full depth of his acrobatic skill. He is noted to be able to perform backflips, cartwheels, somersaults and similar feats of flexibility with little effort. He is often compared to the wind blowing through the forest, his movements only softly interacting with the environment but at such a blistering speed that most opposition is rendered useless in front of him. Floating Stone Although Haigatake is in hold of a phenomenal quantity of physical strength and has been able to direct the expression of that strength in several forms, the man also possesses an attribute few others in his time and of his power seek: perfect control. Throughout his training, Haigatake was always taught the value of controlling his movements by Egaku, which was a skill the Monkeys of Mikazan referred to as the Floating Stone (浮石, Fuzeki), an attribute cultivated through consistent training in the martial arts. The basis of the idea lies in the removal of all excess within one's movements, enhancing that very simple idea to the point where even walking across the ground doesn't produce an audible sound or visible disturbance in the ears and eyes of ordinary humans. Complete Circle (全丸, Zenmaru): The first stage of mastery over the self is the mastery over one's physical strength. By controlling the output of one's power in every conscious instance, the very act becomes an unconscious maneuver and one is capable of restraining their strength to the lowest possible margin. Haigatake, upon reaching this stage, has noted that traditional chakra control training has become an almost redundant concept when it comes to solid terrain. He is capable of standing atop thin branches, wooden poles and various other light-weighted objects without any sort of disturbance whatsoever. It is this very balance that enables Haigatake's thoroughly developed agility to be a life-saving skill. By maneuvering through solid terrain with unorthodox stances and positioning, Haigatake is capable of removing himself from all manners of dangerous situations without giving his enemies so much as a hint towards his true location. When enhanced with the basics of chakra control — specifically localized to his feet — Haigatake can surf across almost any substance without so much as a hindrance to himself, thus allowing him to rather easily walk through torrential flames, tidal waves and galeforce winds sent towards his direction with little issues, making conventional elemental techniques — besides lightning — almost useless against him. Complete Breath (全息, Zeniki): The second stage of mastery over the self is mastering one's breath. This particular stage of mastery is a necessity for the Floating Stone's skill to extend from silence at a stationary position to silence during movement, and is quite difficult to master given its intricacies. The Complete Breath, in its totality, is a form of breathing that must be cultivated through consistent training. Its overall purpose is to expand lung capacity, slowing unconscious breathing and allows for smooth and regular intervals between each breath. Its most significant trait is to maximize oxygen intake and allow oxygen-rich blood to flow to its greatest potential, ultimately allowing for exceptional physical enhancement but, in this particular case, extended movements of pure silence. Such an effect is due to the nature of the Complete Breath; it is constituent of four stages: inhalation, retention, exhalation and suspension. While all stages of this cycle are paramount to achieve the ideal effect, the one truly evoking the silence of the Floating Stone lies in Retention (保持, Hoji). Upon inhalation, Haigatake holds his breath for a period of 10 counts. Within this period, Haigatake's body is suffused with an incredible amount of oxygenated blood, thus enhancing his physical power by a considerable margin. Simultaneously, Haigatake's movements are not accompanied by the sound of his breathing, thereby retaining the silence and weightlessness necessary to successfully move across vast terrains without disturbance. Complete Step (全歩, Zenpo): The third and final stage of mastery over Floating Stone lies within the footwork Haigatake employs with every movement. It is a skill of paramount importance and has been internalized within every single step and movement Haigatake makes, thus allowing him to make every single deliberate motion of his be completely weightless and next-to-impossible to trace with conventional sensory perception. His footwork is, retrospectively, viewed in the same light as "a leaf blowing in the wind." Specifically, Haigatake focuses on passive movement, rather than active movement. His body does not move against the flow, rather, he moves with it. In accordance, all of his movements, despite possessing virtually no impact to the environment, are further concealed through nature itself. It is this stage that truly brings about the full essence of the Floating Stone. For, not only is the skill a reflection of Haigatake's personal control and achievements, but it also imposes the illusion of absence upon any who bear witness to his movement. Through following nature's flow, Haigatake's presence is diminished by the enemy's conscious senses and rendered as irrelevant information, making even simple movements impossible to view unless one has experience in combating such physical illusions; although the number are very limited. Taijutsu In terms of his skill within physical exchanges, Haigatake is said to be second-to-none. The man is fully capable of rending hundreds of enemies absolutely useless without once wielding a weapon, simply weaponizing his own body to its greatest potential. However, Haigatake is not one without restraints — however unconscious they might be. The man possesses several different "states of being", so-to-speak, that his body seemingly transitions to as conflict arises before him. In each of these states, Haigatake's battle prowess appears to ascend in an ever-continuous spiral until he reaches the plateau of a "Dragon", a state where he embodies the power of the Sun itself, truly living up to his self-entitlement as the "God of Taijutsu" (体術の神, Taijutsu no Kami) in the modern world. The first state of Haigatake's prowess is of Blindness (盲目, Mōmoku). However, despite being a tier of Haigatake's battle prowess, Haigatake, in this default state, is incapable of seeing that battle is upon him. In accordance to the nature of Gokū's power — and by extension, Haigatake's physical abilities — this is the state where he unconsciously limits his abilities the most. This is primarily because Haigatake views no sense of urgency in combat during this phase. In accordance, despite his extremely accomplished combat prowess, Haigatake will use the most limited movements available to him. Despite actively maintaining Floating Stone, he will only maintain silent, undisturbed movement (i.e, actively maintain Complete Circle and Breath) in order to achieve his goals, rather than move into an opponent's unconsciousness. This is most actively displayed in his "play" with Kurumi Yuri; despite his movement not possessing any impact — including his "menacing" grapples — Kurumi can consciously view all of Haigatake's movement with little effort. In addition, Haigatake refuses to utilize any active movement when in this state, only reacting to prompts by his playmates or when he is forced to chase them down during certain games.A Monkey in the Trees Although Haigatake is, more often than not, self-limited to soft arm-based strikes during this state, there are certain points where a playmate forces him to use a modicum of his strength through his legs, although consciously limited to the point where it would mimic a child's strength. Likewise, Haigatake's movements are also grossly exaggerated to the point where he seemingly unnecessarily consumes stamina to avoid simple attacks; although to a seasoned combatant, his moves would prove to be remarkably effective despite their so-called lack of efficiency.Monkey Business Should an opponent prove troublesome, Haigatake ascends to Deafness (難聴, Nanchō). In this state of mind, Haigatake gains a newfound clarity that a battle is indeed taking place, however he is deafened to its source. As the second "seal" that Haigatake must lift from Gokū, a modicum of Haigatake's true power as a combatant is returned to him. Nevertheless, even at this stage, Haigatake is incapable of utilizing an offensive pattern of fighting. His movements retain incredible fluidity and silence, utilizing the undisturbed movement of the Floating Stone to ensure that he is never caught. The true distinguishing feature of Haigatake, upon reaching the state of Deafness, lies in the sense of urgency he retains. His playful and flamboyant movements are minimized, focusing on a much more minimalist approach to his evasion... Upon facing an enemy that is truly his equal, Haigatake achieves a state of Muteness (黙然, Mokuzen)... And finally, for an adversary that truly incites his wrath, Haigatake descends into the state of Breathlessness (無息み, Muikimi)... Notes: *'Deafness' is the inability for Haigatake to sense an individual , despite being aware that a battle is occurring in his vicinity and thus his movements have increased urgency. His movements are reflexive and there are rarely any "counter attacks" that possess serious strength; often uses his arms. *'Muteness' is the inability for Haigatake to produce Killing Intent and be antagonistic towards an enemy despite his awareness that his enemy is out for his life. His movements, despite possessing a sense of urgency, are very calm and efficient. All attacks are counters that are executed with enough force to disable an enemy dependent on their attack pattern. *'Breathlessness' is when Haigatake's true capabilities in battle are released. He is both receptive to, and will fight against, those who are engaging him in battle. He produces a ferocious Killing Intent and does not possess any form of mercy; he will continually bombard his opponents till they are massacred with high-powered offensive movements that flawlessly mix upper body and lower body maneuvers that are taken from a wide variety of martial arts disciplines and principles, including the concepts of , and . Killing Intent Trivia *According to the databook(s) :*Haigatake's hobbies are playing in trees and surprising unexpected visitors. :*Haigatake wishes to fight , , and Dǎiyì. With regards to Hashirama Senju, he has said that he wishes to "play in the forests he creates." :*Haigatake's favorite food is banana and any dishes that have it as a constituent, except for Banana milk. :*Haigatake's favorite phrase is "Let's play in the forest!" (森の中に遊ぼう, Mori no Naka ni Asobou). Quotes *(Quoting Gokū before his death) "Conviction is a fist of stone at the heart of all things. Its form is shaped by sure hands, the detritus quickly swept from view. It is built to withstand, built to defy challenge, and when cornered it fights without honour. There is nothing more terrible than conviction." Behind the Scenes *Haigatake's appearance is based off from . *This particular version of Haigatake is an alternate version of Haigatake Sarutobi. *The "Complete Breath" section of this article had content inspired from Breathing Training for Martial Artists by Aaron Hoopes. All credit goes wherever due. *Haigatake's "battle philosophy" is adapted from the chinese translation of Mulan's "I'll Make a Man out of You" and Haigatake's quote on "conviction" was taken by 's Forge of Darkness. All credit goes wherever due. References Category:Male Category:Sarutobi Clan Category:Sage Category:Eight Hermits Category:Missing-nin Category:Sensor Type Category:Characters